Schwarzenegger Gives $2 Mln to His Recall Campaign

Schwarzenegger, who leads other Republicans in polls to take over the job of California governor, made two donations of $1 million each last week, according to records with the California secretary of state's office. His campaign had $2.3 million as of Monday with the remainder coming from 15 other donors, including his wife, Maria Shriver, who gave $21,200, the records show.

The ex-bodybuilding champion is one of 135 candidates vying to replace Governor Gray Davis in the Oct. 7 special election. Candidates are expected to spend at least $40 million on television commercials in the next seven weeks, according to political and media analysts.

``Arnold has said that he will spend some of his own money and not be beholden to special interests, so it's to be expected,'' said Rob Stutzman, a spokesman for the Schwarzenegger campaign.

California has the lowest credit rating of any U.S. state and pays more than any other to borrow money because of deficits in the last two fiscal years totaling $61.6 billion. Schwarzenegger has said he would solve California's fiscal problems by encouraging businesses to operate in the state, though he hasn't disclosed specific plans.

Too Big

Schwarzenegger met today in Los Angeles with former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Warren Buffett, the world's second-richest man and head of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The two are Schwarzenegger economic advisers. The actor spoke with reporters following the meeting.

``There's no way in Nebraska we're going to have a great economy if California is having trouble,'' Buffett said as the meeting opened. ``This economy is just too big for any state in the union to ignore its impact on the country. If California has trouble, the country has trouble.''

Some three dozen television cameras and photographers lined the hall outside the ballroom to capture the movie star and his advisers.

``We are all here today to discuss California's No. 1 problem: How do we turn California's economy back to the powerful job-creating machine it once was?'' Schwarzenegger said. ``Nearly 290,000 high-paid manufacturing jobs have been lost in California in the last two years alone. These jobs, bear in mind, will not come back -- they will not return -- unless we in California create a positive business environment.''

Other Advisers

Among the 20 panelists on Schwarzenegger's committee are Ray Lane, the former chief operating officer of software maker Oracle Corp. and a partner in the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Michael Boskin, the chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers under the first president Bush.

The panel also includes Warren Hellman, a former president of Lehman Brothers, who founded Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco buyout firm that owns a 10 percent stake in the Nasdaq stock market. Hellman, a board member of Levi Strauss & Co., joined a group of business leaders last month to warn that the recall could have a devastating impact on the California economy.

Schwarzenegger contributors include $21,200 - the maximum allowed under California campaign finance laws -- from David Booth, the chief executive officer of Dimensional Fund Advisors, an investment company in which Schwarzenegger owns more than $1 million worth of stock.

Do What's Necessary

Other contributors include an auto dealer from Los Angeles, a commercial real estate developer in Los Angeles, and a Santa Barbara sod farmer who lost a bid for U.S. Congress last November.

Davis, a Brooklyn New York born career politician who won a second term in November, has $645,797 in his campaign account, according to the Secretary of State. Allies of Davis have donated another $3.7 million to three separate groups fighting the recall, according to Recall Watch, a web site run by a Sacramento lobbyist who's tracking fundraising in the election.

``I have to generate finances to try and withstand those efforts,'' Davis said in transcripts of a radio interview today in San Francisco. ``And I think everyone understands, when someone says, `We're going to try and take you out,' you've got to put up a fight and do what's necessary. So, that's what I'm doing.''

Peter Ueberroth, the former Major League Baseball commissioner who's running as a Republican, donated $1 million to his own campaign. He's raised another $532,000, the most in individual contributions of any of the candidates. Contributions to Ueberroth include $21,200 from Bill Gross, manager of the $72 billion Pimco Total Return Fund in Newport Beach, California.

Ueberroth said today in Los Angeles that he would seek a taxpayer amnesty to raise revenue and spending cuts under a plan for balancing California's budget if he wins the governor's office in the recall election.